A very good friend of mine had the teeshirt (above) printed up. If there are enough expressions of interest perhaps it might be possible to follow in the footsteps of David Beckham, Gwen Stefani, Liam Gallagher and all the rest, and set up a Gombeen Nation fashion line? If you do obtain one, however, don't go wearing it into the Widow Scallan's of a Friday night. Or any night, really.
Speaking of Dev, I had to laugh when some Fianna Failer backed Eamon O’Cuiv for that corrupt party’s leadership. His grounds were that O’Cuiv is a grandson of Dev - often mocked on this blog as being the grand daddy of an insular brand of Catholic Gaelic Irishness - whose aversion to modernity ensured our so-called republic remained a backward backwater up until…well…today.
It is a bit like when somebody poses the question: “what did the heroes of 1916 die for?", as if dying for something automatically makes a cause a worthwhile one. The Islamic fundamentalists who directed two packed passenger aircraft into the Twin Towers died for a cause. Does that mean we should venerate their actions?
Did the nine million-plus soldiers who perished in the lice-infested trenches of the First World War die for a worthwhile cause? Did the German troops who expired on the frozen Steppes of Russia die for a worthwhile cause?
“What would the heroes of ’16 have said?” those of a lemming-like disposition often ask. Well the heroes of '16 were very much involved in the formative governments of the new Irish state. They made up government cabinets. Dev himself was there. The ethos and foundations of this country derive directly from the “heroes of 1916”. They created what we have now.
Granted, some aspects of the 1916 Proclamation were progressive, such as calls for universal suffrage and equality. But I imagine the more progressive calls of the Proclamation came from socialist and internationalist Connolly, rather than Gaelic nationalist headbangers like Pearse and de Valera.
The British establishment reacted in a ham-fisted way to the disturbances of Easter 1916, of course, pounding part of Dublin to smithereens and killing innocent people in the process. They managed to turn a formerly hostile public to the side of the insurrectionists. They shot Connolly, of course, but not de Valera. The rest is history.
Maybe they knew what they were doing, knowing where he and his sucessors would lead us?
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17 comments:
Dear GM,
I must say I'm very surprised and disappointed to see you referring to the "Islamic fundamentalists who directed two packed passenger aircraft into the Twin Towers". Surley an educated man of your calibre doesn't believe such twaddle?
It is now quite common knowledge that Israel, or Mossad in particular, which carried out the 9/11 'attacks', denied by the US Govt of course because they were complicit in the plot....
No, erm, Deepthroat... I hadn't realised it was common knowledge.
Are you sure you're not reading too many blogs?
;-)
To Deepthroat
Dear Sir
The concept of free speech is important, but we are not allowed to shout ‘Fire’ in a crowded cinema, without consequences.
The same applies to your assertion that Israel was responsible for the bombing of the Twin Towers. It would not be possible to argue this point on a blog, I would like to know why you are of this opinion, and if you can justify your reasoning, because that is very important.
May I refer you to a the excellent book by David Aaronovitch “Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Modern History”;Jonathan Cape; ISBN 9780224074704.
Without meaning to sound highbrow, I have chosen to read several books by credible historians about this subject, and there is no evidence whatsoever that your assertion is true. When I write something controversial which I have done, I usually leave my e-mail address so that anyone who wishes to do so can contact me and challenge my point of view: davidayalon@aol.com.
I am genuinely interested in your opinion, because you may have something very important to say that no one else has considered. And your informed opinion is just as good as that anyone else. I am sincerely interested in having discourse with you or anyone else who chooses to identify who they are and how they have arrived at any particular opinion.
I suggest also that you find a good book to study the pathology of conspiracy theorists.
David Aaron Ayalon.
“INSURRECTION”
A friend who works for the BBC told me that some ‘jossers’ in RTE are planning an re-enactment of the Insurrection of 1916 on the streets of Dublin in 2016.
He purported that soldiers from the Irish army and actors will dress up in British uniforms and have a pageant to commemorate and celebrate the killing of human beings.
If RTE (the voice of Fianna Fail) allow themselves to be used in this way when the country is bankrupted and on it’s knees, then God help Ireland.
For those old enough to remember there was an excellent programme called “INSURRECTION” by Telifis Eireann in 1966, produced by Louis Lentin, directed by Michael Garvey, narrator: Ray McAnally, script: Hugh Leonard.
I tried to find a copy on this programme in RTE (I even went there) and they said that there were no copies for sale. I bought mine in New York. The production was really ahead of it’s time.
Imagine if RTE (Fianna Fail) recreate the “1916 Insurrection“, and then The Orange Order choose to commemorate and celebrate the “Battle of the Boyne”, then Ireland is marching backwards, YES, backwards to the barbaric middle ages. I said. God help Ireland, on second thoughts, I feel more and more that there is no God in Ireland.
DBMG
The Vileness of Bunreacht na h-Eireann (the Irish Constitution)
The film "The Magdalene Sisters" and the history industrial school system sums up DeValera’s Ireland as a murderous, cruel, sadistic, sodomistic, insensitive, misogynistic, hypocritical society.
The victims of the Industrial Schools (poor devils) were used as slaves while DeValera and Archbishop Mc Quaid, Frank Aitken and other cold blooded murderers enjoyed a life of theft, opulence and profligacy.
I truthfully believe in the Old Roman adage (loosely translated) “You cannot do bad and expect good to follow”. Ireland will suffer for it’s sins.
A girl I know told me that the conditions with The Magdalene Sisters were was ten times worse than depicted in the film. It had to be cut and heavily censored by the producers, otherwise it would not have passed the censors or fit to be seen.
Read: Eamon de Valera, 1882-1975: Irish Catholic Visionary by Anthony J. Jordan because within the pages of this book there is cogent and inherent analysis of Ireland’s problems.
He was a zealot and a closed minded bigot, who could not come to terms with the murders caused during the Irish Civil War which was initiated by him.
The people had voted and he did not like the result, a bit like Burma or North Korea, and he was no better than those dictators because he used Bunreacht na h-Eireann to oppress the people. Fianna Fail (in the main) have followed suit in the same vein ever since.
DBMG
Hello GM
It probably says something about the mind set of the current crop of Fianna Failers that what many would consider a joke candidate like O’Cuiv was first runner up in the leadership contest.
I wonder of Meehall Martin is unable to fulfill his duties for any reason will O'Cuiv get the tiara and the title.
I'm no expert on the Irish language but I've heard that it doesn't have the letter V in its alphabet.Based on this evidence O'Cuiv may well be a Mossad operative or some sort of reptilian replicant.
This raises many questions about granddaddy Dev and the rest of the 1916 bunch and about the sinister Fainne Oir 9kt wearing sect that move freely (for now) amongst us.
SH
@ David. I will see if I can get my hands on the book you mention. Your summary of Dev is concise and very apt.
He also had plenipotentiaries negotiate the Treaty so he could shaft them - claiming innocence himself - when it was signed and he chose to disagree with its contents. He was a reactionary and the grandaddy of all the shyters who followed.
@ SH. It's as good a theory as any, you know. It's the only thing that explains the sinister hold they have had on the simple minds of the Irish electorate...
QUIXOTIC ASPIRATIONS
It is very clear that the Irish constitution is Roman Catholic Dogma in political speak. It is also true that Fianna Fail is the voice of the Vatican, and RTE is the voice of Fianna Fail.
With such powerful backup there is little point in having an opposition. It is quite pointless having intellectual sophisticated politicians like Dr Garret FitzGerald, because politics in Ireland lends itself to guttersnipes and corner boys (and girls) without scruples or integrity.
The Industrial school system is just one example of how low Irish politics has always been. The present financial debacle verifies that Irish politicians are now the scum of the earth
Other than “The Bearded Baron” there is no opposition politician who is cunning enough, or sufficiently ruthless to outfox Fianna Fail.
The “Green Baron” understands them and their quixotic United Ireland aspirations: i.e. “we kill what we don’t like’. So it is time for politicians to take care because many Fianna Fail and other opposition politicians could find themselves taking a impromptu, PERMANENT HOLIDAY on some lonely Irish beach, just as Jean McConville did at Templetown Beach in Co Louth.
That is how Saddam Hussein gained power; he simply murdered the opposition. Sinn Fein are capable of doing likewise.
DBMG
Oh Come on now chaps. This is getting silly.
The 'Dev started Fianna Fail, they are all bad so he is all bad' theory is fine if you are 5yrs old but can't we come up with something a bit better than that?
@GM. It is interesting that you say "Did the nine million-plus soldiers who perished in the lice-infested trenches of the First World War die for a worthwhile cause? Did the German troops who expired on the frozen Steppes of Russia die for a worthwhile cause?"
You correctly identify the nonsense that was WWI and WWII but give no credit to SF who successfully organised resistance to conscription in Ireland in the latter years of WWI and to Dev who kept us neutral in WWII, thereby keeping a large number of our great grand daddies and grand daddies alive during the period. A good number of us would not be all around today if it had been otherwise.
@DBMG
The whole 'Dev and the church' thing is way over the top. Firstly, a powerful Irish catholic church pre-dates Dev and friends by some time. The first Christian Brothers School opened in 1802, while the Presentation Sisters started in 1775 with schools starting at around the same time as the brothers. These were funded by tax revenues collected by the British, which were also used by the way to build Maynooth Seminary.
For the record The Magdalene Laundries in Ireland started in the mid-1800's, so Dev & the boys inherited a lot of what you now blame them for.
@DBMG
You say "...intellectual sophisticated politicians like Dr Garret FitzGerald" You clearly don't remember the photograph that appeared in the Indo one morning years ago of him election campaigning the previous day with his shoes on the wrong feet
Dev-otee
Where did I identify the Second World War as "nonsense"?
Dear Dev-otee
If you are so interested in Dev, then I am sure you will have read several biographies about this man and the religious conflict and torment he endured as a consequence of the guilt he carried for starting the Irish Civil War.
I have read ten biographies about this very troubled man. The most recent was Eamon de Valera, 1882-1975: Irish Catholic Visionary by Anthony J. Jordan. This this book gives a cogent and inherent analysis of Ireland’s problems, in relation to DeValera.
It was not because of Sinn Fein that there was no Irish conscription, it was because there was no need for conscription. Many thousands of Irishmen fought in WWI, because the social conditions in the trenches were superior to those in Ireland. They had a better quality of lice, fleas and rats than in The Coombe. Also, the British feared espionage and sabotage from Irish Republicans
Ireland was declared neutral in WWII, but DeValera gave great assistance to Britain throughout the war because Dublin was full of German Agents as well as British Agents (with DeVelara's approval). Ireland served as an important catalyst within the Allied war effort. Visit the National Library of Ireland.
The dates you give about the Christian Brothers and Religious Nuns are accepted history. I accept that injustices did occur that was in keeping with the social attitudes of the time. However Britain had stopped all such practices by 1923 and these practices were deemed inhuman. The Irish Government continued these vile practices at the behest of the Catholic Church until 1992.
Please study Bunreacht na h-Eireann (the Irish Constitution) and the role of the Roman Catholic Church, which made Ireland into a sinister plutocracy and a fascist paedophilic theocracy.
Regarding Dr Garret FitzGerald's shoes on the wrong feet, I went to a wedding, and I forgot to put my shoes on and I attended in fluffy slippers. Also, I attended a funeral a few months ago, and made a beautiful speech. However, it was the wrong funeral and no one had ever heard of me. It was not entirely my fault, I still blame 3 generous glasses of John Jameson 12 year old.
The truth is never silly, but nationalistic hyperbole is very silly and is the food of bigotry.
DBMG
THE ANATOMY OF FIANNA FAIL
You speak of “Dev and the boys” with frivolous and flippant veneration. Frank Aitken was one of “Dev’s boys", who with a band of murderous gangsters murdered dozens of innocent people that the thought voted for the Treaty.
He slaughtered a whole family; both parents and 5 children one Sunday morning as a result of false information so that a relative would inherit the farm.
There were dozens of non political murders carried out for reasons of greed. Several of those murderers like Frank Aitken attained great wealth and prominent ministerial positions with Fianna Fail. Their devious relatives still enjoy the benefit of purloined property.
So much for your “Dev and the boys”. Dev’s legacy to Ireland is a rotten, putrid, political shithouse that smells all over the world.
'Dev-ious' DeValera.
Several TD's of all parties came by their wealth as the result of cold blooded murder during the Civil War. Many present day TD's are living in the houses of murdered Protestants.
The people voted for the treaty and "Dev and the Boys" didn't like the result, so they took power and murdered the opposition just as Hitler and Saddam Hussein did later on.
Instead of 'Dev-ote' would it not be more appropriate to have 'Dev-ious' DeValera.
I did my own DIY Irish history education ( and got A1 ordinary leaving cert..I’m no scholar, but not ignorant either:
*Politicians Especially FF can be Much blamed for evils of catholic church- its a red herring to say church had much power pre 1922; So how come the church never got away with so much in NI? Easy - unionist government wouldn’t let them. Politicians should- rightly- see churches keep the law. FF and catholic church instead had an unholy alliance- with the church cracking the whip.
* Many Irishmen willingly signed up for WW1 in belief this would help Home rule bid ( Algerians did the same in French resistance army in WW2)
* My LC books say anyway 1 reason Britain was reluctant to let Ireland go , was that (even without conscription) Irish men policed the Empire.
*It is NOT Disloyal to any country to admit some founders were mad and bloody - the Egyptians are certainly doing that and how! They’re going to get reform through faster in 2 weeks than we ever did in 90 years. ‘Protest like an Egyptian…’
*For a country that escaped WW2 Ireland has done very very badly- FO’T even noted than in his book’ Enough is Enough’.
* F O’T said our economy is now in the same state as a country that has gone through war. He said that in 1 way we could have Benefited by going through WW2- as the despairing EU people had great Consensus that ALL MUST BUILD UP THEIR COUNTRIES-and Then All Would share in the good .
Ireland, I always find has a Shocking lack of solidarity- it’s every man and every interest group for themselves:
Here’s My conversation with a clerk called Paula in her late 50’s
Paula: Ah, we’ll vote FF again!
Me( appalled) :I never voted for them - what about the economy?
P: I have my job (and her husband has safe job somewhere as well)
Me: and if you need hospital care? You could die if there’s no money for heath service thanks to FF
P: Well, I have VHI!!!
Me: and those on trolleys???…I was talking to thin air, she’d shot off…no interest in anyone else.
I have these Conversations TOO often- reassuringly mostly with people in their 50s. Paula got what was thought of as good education in some run of the mill boarding school in Munster in the 60’s …but even then Very Blinkered people were produced ( the same lady bemoans the fact that certain streets in the city centre are ‘taken over’ by foreign businesses To my relief, the stupidest most smug comments from those who support FF and HAVE NO UNDERSTANDING AS TO WHY THEY Should CARE IF THEIR COMPATRIOTS SUFFER Are usually from those aged 50-55+- younger people aren’t as thick.
* John Mc Gahern said this country was in SHOCK in the 1930’s at being independent- an ill educated poor nation was unable to assert itself, and into a leadership vacuum confidently strode the Irish political gombeen class.
* Irish people voted for a treaty in 1922- and FF decided they shouldn’t have, hence murderous civil war…V hard to be impressed by this….not surprised by the things people say about FF. Seems a book came out Dec 2010 citing violent activities of FF in Cork in the 1920s, even it seems After the Civil war was over. NO - time to consign these gombeens, chancers and thugs to history- we deserve better.
I only managed to pass 'O' Level economics, but even I, a simpleton, can see that Gerry Adams economic predictions are completely "off the wall".
I am astounded that some economics corrospondent has not taken him to task on his financial assertions. This is the man who plans to rule Ireland and the World. He may have spent too long building sand castles on the beach.
Dear President McAleese
Before Mr Gerry Adams is allowed to stand for election to Teachtaí Dála should the veracity of Brendan Hughes allegations not be investigated by the Garda Siochana
Gerry Adams was named in a posthumous statement by former Provisional IRA Belfast commander Brendan ‘Darkie’ Hughes in the book Voices From The Grave last year as the man who ordered the 1972 kidnapping and murder of Ms McConville.
What if it turns out that this man is proven to be an accessory to murder? Is that the sort of politician that is to be a role model for the future of Ireland’s children?
Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/mcconville-daughter-to-fight-adams-143175.html#ixzz1CfCy7qjh
DBMG
Sign me up for one of those t-shirts please.
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